Chương 20: 1-19 Trying to lend a hand

The first one was the usual level up notification. After mostly small and known injuries, the final foray into something new had given Josef the push he needed. Level 13 -> 14 1 Free attribute points. 1 Intelligence, 1 Wisdom and 2 Charisma gained He probably couldn't expect to gain a level like that every day, but it was good to know that working as a magical doctor was a viable means of progression in the long term. Though without new sicknesses cropping up, his progress would likely slow down to a crawl.

With barely a thought, he added his free point into Endurance. He wouldn't let his health fall too far behind. 1 Endurance gained The second notification, however, surprised him. ✩✩ Summoning(Moderate) -> (Advanced) Tools, pets, friends. Summons can take many forms, choose responsibly. A rare affinity allowing to bind magical entities. Create mana constructs or contract magical creatures to do your bidding.

Improved coordination between summoner and familiars Josef hadn't expected another increase in his affinities so soon, even after taking Mentor's Feedback. It was even more perplexing that the affinity he improved wasn't healing, but summoning. Maybe working together with Nibbles counted more for doing summoner things than for acting as a healer? If that were the case, he would have to arrange for his rodent to do some solo work eventually.

But their first day of work wasn't even over, so it remained to be seen whether he could push both affinities at once. It was time for Dusty to make his comeback, so that they could grind for ranks even harder. He would need to come up with more games they could play together between patients, as maybe that could help further push their teamwork and thus, affinity. Hopefully, this world had playing cards, so he could teach his familiars how to play poker.

His thoughts were interrupted as another patient made his way down the stairs. She was a lycan with brown fur and exhausted eyes. What she brought with her, however, was something Josef had seen before. Blood Fever. The same sickness Coco had been suffering from when they first met. This time, though, he was more than prepared to face it.

Just as he wondered about the logistics of casting Regeneration and then either convincing the woman that she could leave as the spell would cure her in time, or to have her stick around and join him in playing checkers, Nibbles stepped up to do the job. After climbing onto her to make contact, something people have been surprisingly unfazed about so far, the rat quickly began to shiver as he did his magic.

Seeing where this was going, Josef cast his continuous healing spell on the familiar, to help him endure the sickness. He had wondered if the rat could take not only physical injury but also sickness upon himself. The answer was yes. As another grateful patient left them, the two of them took a break where Nibbles got to enjoy copious amounts of cuddles as he chewed through the fever in record time. And it was at this point in time that someone else joined them.

With a rush of some mana leaving his body, his most weird little friend finally rejoined him. You familiar 'Dusty, the dustbunny' has returned! Josef noted how he wasn't even given a choice on whether or not to summon his rabbit familiar right now. What if he didn't have the mana? Then again, sending Dusty away had also never been an option in the first place. He remained a special case, it would seem.

That reminded him that he was asked not to have more than one familiar out while walking through the city, back when he first entered. Not that he had any intention of complying with that. Dusty would pretty much always fill that spot by default, anyway. Also, Josef was already on a kind of anti-authoritarian trip. Might as well screw the rules by hiding a rat in his pocket. He wondered how many summons he could get away with as he increased his affinity further.

On the point of increasing their affinity further, he noted that his familiars had finally made contact with each other. Well, at least one of them had. Nibbles was being his best self, going up to the bunny that appeared on the floor in front of them. He chittered and squeaked in greeting, and even offered to shake paws. He was an adorably social creature. Dusty, meanwhile, just stared at the rat. Then, at the outstretched paw. Then back to the rat. Finally, he opened his mouth.

What came out of it sounded like someone was dragging rocks over a cheese grater, all while somehow doing it as quietly as a whisper. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. The rabbit had grown a lot more verbal than the last time around. Too bad it was still unintelligible and, frankly, unsettling. Josef was fine with that. He had grown somewhat accustomed to the strangeness of his first companion. No matter how weird he was, he meant no harm.

Nibbles, on the other hand, was a lot more distraught about the reaction, fleeing back to his summoner and scampering up his clothes until he finally found safety on a shoulder.

"It's alright," Josef petted the rat soothingly.

"Dusty might be a little scary at first, but he is nice and a good friend. Please try to get along with him." A sudden weight on his other shoulder announced the arrival of the bunny in question, making it clear they had both been distracted enough for the little fluff to move. It had only been a day, but Josef had already missed this slightly disturbing behaviour.

"It's good to have you back, buddy. Please also try to get along with Nibbles. We wouldn't have made it out of the dungeon without his help." Josef felt the bunny vibrate in affirmation. At least it felt like that to him. With that, his little magical fur-family was finally united in one room. What followed was an intense session of teaching a rabbit how to play checkers. It had started as a spur-of-the-moment idea, but was now shaping up to be their thing.

Teaching was slightly complicated because Dusty didn't want to move his pieces while being watched. Fortunately, they soon adapted to that, as both man and rat looked away in unison just long enough for the board to change. In a way, this was excellent training for their future teamwork. After all, keeping watch of the bunny would decrease his effectiveness in combat as well. It was about deliberately leaving a little blind spot that they would trust him to fill.

It was within this atmosphere that their work continued. Though it was mostly Nibbles doing the hard parts, with Josef contributing the occasional Regeneration to help the rat with bearing some of the harsher injuries. Not that Josef was unwilling to help more directly, but his familiar had made it clear that he actually wanted to approach things like that. So instead, he continued playing checkers with the rabbit, even though their matches were regularly interrupted by people's unbelieving stares.

Perhaps they didn't make the most reputable impression, but the results spoke for themselves. Finally, after several more patients were sent on their way, the notification he had hoped for appeared. ✩✩ Restoration(Advanced) -> (Exceptional) Anyone can use magic to destroy. Undoing that damage is a fine art few are capable of. A rare affinity favoring restoration over destruction. Many look with envy at the powers of the healer, but few will understand the weight it places on your shoulder.

Improves your control over healing magic. It worked. Nibbles did the healing, he got the advancement. Together, they would now be even better at healing. This was going to be their routine for as long as he could help it. Unfortunately, before any feeling of routine could even set in, a sudden commotion shook things up. Their newest patient, a brown mottled reptile he couldn't further name, didn't come down alone.

He was supported on both sides, on one by Charly herself, displaying greater strength than her compact form would have suggested, and on the other by a similar looking reptile with different markings. Perhaps they were family? Josef abandoned his doomed round of checkers, Dusty was definitely cheating when no one was looking, and helped get the man settled on the cot. Nibbles joined him momentarily, immediately fussing over the injured patient.

It was a lot harder to tell on someone with scales, but if he were a human, he would be pale from blood loss. At least that was his explanation for the lusterless scales of the barely conscious man. The stump where his right forearm should be was also a bit of a dead giveaway, really. While the wound was bound tightly with cloth, that alone was clearly not enough to keep him alive. Fortunately, they had magic.

Leaving Nibbles to his own devices, the rat knew what he could do best, Josef immediately added his Regeneration spell to both patient and assistant before turning to ask the other reptile, "What about his arm? Do you still have it? I could try reattaching it." Josef honestly wasn't too confident in accomplishing a fully functional reattachment, but he understood the general idea behind it, and magic could do a lot of heavy lifting.

Though, as he saw no bloody package coming with the men, he already anticipated the answer.

"R-reattach?" the healthy one was surprised, before looking downcast.

"N-no, it's gone. They burned it." They? Josef wondered momentarily, but he mostly wanted to curse out loud. There went that hope. Regrowing an entire arm was a ludicrous prospect that was clearly outside of his capabilities. Still, he would try his best. While concentrating on using his Heal spell, he focused his intent on the recovery of the stump. Maybe if he told the magic precisely enough what he wanted to accomplish, it could do it for him. Grow bones. Shape flesh. Graft skin.

He pushed his mana into the task, barely aware of his surroundings. The drain was immense, and he knew he wouldn't be able to continue for long. But he could see results. Bones started to grow outwards like budding sprouts, the flesh soon following like a living meat-wrapping. Finally, skin would form on top of that growth as it started to fill out the shape that the arm should have had. Then came the dizziness, as his mana was getting low.

Forced to address the still open end of the arm, he focused on creating more skin to close things up, covering the bare flesh. He could already tell that the notification waiting for him was about his Heal spell. ☆☆ Heal (Moderate) -> (Pinnacle) Sometimes all it takes is a single touch and a bit of goodwill. You have gained increased control over the tissue regrowth performed by your healing magic. One finger-width of an arm, that is what all of his mana had accomplished.

Josef felt a strange mix of elation and depression at that sight. On one hand, he could actually restore missing body parts, but on the other, it was ridiculously difficult and costly. However, as long as it was possible, there was hope that he could get better, until it was easy as pie. It would all be a matter of levels and ranks. Meeting the gaze of his patient's… friend? Sibling? Whatever they were, he laid out the truth.

"I can't restore it all at once. But with repeat treatment, I might be able to restore his full arm, given enough time." If the guy had been elated about the healing before, he was positively ecstatic now, throwing his arms around Josef and thanking him profusely for saving his brother. They were related after all. Both promised to come back for further treatment the next day, as Charly ushered them back upstairs. That was going to be an exhausting project, but Josef looked forward to it.

Not only would he be able to restore normalcy to someone who had just lost a limb, he was probably going to get some massive improvements once he finished that treatment. Next time, maybe he would even remember to ask them how that arm was severed and burned.